Awaken or get woke

When the Israelites chafed under the leadership of judges who were acting as God’s servants, they demanded a king so they could be like other peoples.  God told them they wouldn’t like it and he told them why: A king will take YOUR sons and use them as HIS servants, taking care of the King and HIS chariots and HIS horses and some will run in front of HIS chariots.  He will appoint some to be captains over thousands and others as captains over fifties.  He will set them to plow HIS ground and to reap HIS harvest, to make instruments of war for HIM and tools for HIS chariots.  He will take your daughters to be cooks and bakers.  He will take YOUR fields and YOUR vineyards and YOUR olive-yards, even the best of them and give them to HIS servants.  He will take YOUR servants, men and women and YOUR best young men, and YOUR work animals and put them to HIS work.  He will take the tenth of YOUR sheep and you will be HIS servants.  And you will cry out in that day because of YOUR king which ye have chosen but the LORD will not hear you.  Still the people wanted a king (1 Samuel 8:10 – 18).  

We enjoy a history of being a peculiar nation with peculiar people among other nations.  Do we really want to be like the other nations of the world?  Let our decisions be made soberly or we may find ourselves like the Israelites of old.  We don’t want to work anymore. Let someone else take care of us like children rather than adults.  We beg for more grants and free things but nothing the government gives us is free.  Government takes YOUR money and doles it back to you as if it were doing YOU a favor.  People who have received free monies learn handouts are not hand ups.  We need wisdom to discern the difference.  

Hopefully we will not make our ballots the certification of people who are nice but people who are ready to make difficult decisions.  We live in perilous times.  Every parent knows always saying yes to your children doesn’t guarantee obedience.  When you get a lollipop every time you go to the bank or the doctor, you begin to feel like a lollipop is owed to you.

Mark your ballot with eternity in view not instant gratification. Make your choice as an adult with a mature perspective.  Political elections are not high school popularity contests where the prettiest and handsomest people become king and queen of the prom.  Worthwhile change requires hard work. Promises without unity and agreement are empty.  Shouting does not create an atmosphere where people can come into agreement.  Speaking must allow room for listening 

Democracy is tempered by republic lest there be mob rule.  Some say a democracy is where two coyotes and a sheep vote on what’s for dinner.  We began as a constitutional republic with three branches to balance one another:  legislative, executive and judicial.  Congress is bicameral in nature:  The house to represent the people and, (originally as a safeguard against a popular vote) the state “appointed” senators to represent the interests of the individual states. The electoral college is an integral part of that process.  

The people insisted and Saul was anointed the first king of Israel.  He was good looking and taller than the other men.  He looked kingly but he followed his own directives rather than God’s  (1 Samuel 9:2).

It cost them dearly.  On the last day of the Constitutional  Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin prophetically said, “ You have a republic . . . if you can keep it.”

(Cathy Bayert is pastor of Greybull First Baptist Church.)